Progressive die tooling is used to produce high volume precision components for manufacturing purposes. Progressive die tooling components are used in a number of industries, but are used primarily in mass production. In progressive die tooling, the components to be manufactured can be connected directly to each other in series, but more commonly, such components are connected by a carrier, described below. If, for instance, a series of metal components were to be produced for progressive die tooling, the raw material employed in the process would comprise a strip of metal. The metal would be stamped to provide a series of desired components. The components would ordinarily be connected by a small amount of the metal strip, known as a carrier. The carrier would be removed from the components by a punch or similar tool prior to the implementation of the component.
The design of the carrier is determined by the design of the tooling, the associated component, and the application of the component. To minimize the amount of waste that is produced when the carrier is separated from the component, the carrier is usually joined to the base features of consecutive components.
Prior art progressive die tooling component carriers have customarily comprised a solid piece of metal having the same thickness as the component. In instances where minimization of scrap material has been important, the prior art progressive die tooling component carriers have had a shortened length or width. A carrier with a shortened length prevents reeling of the integrated components because of the rigidity of its connection with the components. Reeling of components having carriers of shortened length can result in bent or warped components, which is undesirable. Similarly, carriers with shortened widths allow for the twisting, or relative rotation, of adjacent components. The twisting of the components makes precision automated work difficult.
Other prior art progressive die tooling component carriers, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,608, teach the use of a pair of rectangular carrier arms, such as the component carrier 5 depicted in FIG. 1C. The carrier arms 6 and 7 are positioned in parallel spaced relation to one another, connecting the adjacent components 8 and 9 to one another. This type of carrier becomes problematic when the adjacent components 8 and 9 are subjected to a twisting motion. The twisting motion forces one end of each carrier arm upward and the opposite end downward forming a pair of hinges A and B in each of the carrier arms, such as those depicted in FIG. 1D, as the components are wound around a reel. Each of the hinges A and B will tend to bend along different axes, thus creating an additional force on the carriers that makes them more likely to fracture as the reeled components are unreeled prior to assembly. Moreover, the formation of multiple hinges in each of the carriers will alter the uniform distance between the components, as depicted in FIG. 1E, making precision positioning of the components more difficult.
The difficulty in forming a single hinge in such prior art carriers is further compounded by the inability to accurately determine the point at which each carrier will bend. The components are far more likely to become entangled as they are wound onto a reel when each of the carriers is hinged at a different point. Consistently locating the hinge point of each carrier will greatly reduce the occurrence of tangled components as well as multiple axes hinging.
Accordingly, what is needed is a progressive die tooling component carrier that enables a strip of formed components to be easily wound onto a reel, resists twisting of the components relative to one another, and reduces the scrap formed when the carrier is separated from the components.